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OPINION

2018 in review: FC Cincinnati wins big; bumpy ride for transit

Enquirer editorial board
Published 9:06 a.m. ET Dec. 31, 2018

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General manager Jeff Berding raises a newly branded scarf during an event to unveil FC Cincinnati's new MLS branding at the Woodward Theater in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018.(Photo: Sam Greene/The Enquirer)

With 2018 coming to an end, the editorial board took a look back at the news events that shaped our region this year. There was plenty to celebrate and some head shakers too. We couldn't account for them all, but here are our top thumbs up and thumbs down of 2018.

Thumbs up

FC Cincinnati’s meteoric rise from the minors to Major League Soccer in just three seasons was one of the most compelling stories of 2018. The soccer club made a convincing case to the MLS to join the league and was able to get some funding from Cincinnati City Council and Hamilton County commissioners for infrastructure to support a new stadium in the West End. Nobody hustled more than President and General Manager Jeff Berding to make professional soccer a reality in the Queen City. Berding went door-to-door, attended countless community and government meetings and endured endless questioning and scrutiny from the media and others. To be sure, not everyone, including this editorial board, agreed with how the stadium funding approval process was handled, and many residents of the West End remain concerned about gentrification and being shut out of the economic boon FC Cincinnati might bring to the neighborhood. The team has made efforts to hold up its end of a community benefits agreement by investing money back into West End. One of FC Cincinnati's first acts of good faith was to donate football equipment to a neighborhood little league team. In its final season, FC Cincinnati broke all kinds of United Soccer League records, had the best record in the league and an incredible unbeaten streak. The team just recently completed its MLS expansion player draft and broke ground on the West End stadium. Things are looking up for the soccer franchise. Here’s hoping the team can maintain its momentum as it enters its inaugural MLS season in 2019.

University of Kentucky agronomist Dave Williams looks over the hemp crop at a farm outside Lexington.(Photo: File photo)

Ohio and Kentucky’s economies could see a much-needed boost in 2019 thanks to two burgeoning industries that were once considered illegal. Ohio began building its medical marijuana industry this year by issuing licenses for growers and distilleries and developing a registry of doctors who can recommend cannabis for qualified medical conditions. The state’s first dispensary - near Steubenville (about 240 miles northeast of Cincinnati) - opened earlier this month. Meanwhile, thanks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Kentucky Congressman Jamie Comer’s work in Congress, a provision was added to the Farm Bill that classified hemp as an agricultural crop rather than a drug related to marijuana and gave state’s regulatory control over the industry. Kentucky, which has been struggling to recover from divestment in the tobacco industry, piloted a hemp program in 2017 that netted $16 million in product sales. Dollars from these industries, once fully implemented, could be transformative for two states in need of new sources of revenue.

Cincinnati Strong. That was the rallying cry after four people were killed Sept. 6 when a gunman opened fire at Fifth Third Center on Fountain Square. The horrifying event jarred our community, but out of it came the strength, courage, unity and generosity that has always defined this city. Our brave police and first responders charged into danger to take down the shooter and pull victims to safety. Our elected, civic and business leaders rallied hundreds of people for a vigil on The Square in the hours following the mass shooting. And the Cincinnati Strong Victims Fund was established to financially help survivors and the families of victims of the mass shooting with the grieving and recovery process. Cincinnati’s light shined brightest in one of its darkest times. And while this city continues to heal, we can take pride in our indomitable strength and compassion for our fellow man.

Much more needs to be done in the fight against heroin, but this year the region saw opioid overdose deaths decreasing and more people being saved with Narcan. In 2018, three new syringe exchange programs appeared in the region. After years of dispute, Covington and Newport are hosting the Northern Kentucky Health Department's Syringe-Access Exchange Programs, bringing sterile syringes, testing for HIV and hepatitis C and more to those who use drugs, and working to guide them into treatment. This was also the first year that Hamilton County Public Health participated through both financing and operating an exchange in Greater Cincinnati. The county took over a budget-restricted, flailing operation - The Cincinnati Exchange Project - and revamped and expanded it into the Exchange Project. In addition, Hamilton County Heroin Coalition members brought out a campaign to increase by 400 percent the access to naloxone in our region. The organization created the Narcan Distribution Collaborative to work on the long-touted need to “stop the dying.” Many lives in Greater Cincinnati have been saved because of these collaborative steps.

In an otherwise dismal 2018 football season for the Cincinnati Bengals, the love affair between quarterback Andy Dalton and the city of Buffalo was one of the highlights. Dalton's touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd in December 2017 against the Baltimore Ravens propelled the Buffalo Bills to the NFL playoffs for the first time in 17 years. In a show of appreciation, thousands of Bills fans flooded Dalton's foundation with more than $360,000 in donations. Dalton and his wife Jordan returned the favor this past August when the Bengals went to Buffalo for a preseason game by making a donation to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. With all the hubbub surrounding national anthem protests and brushes with the law, it's easy to forget that many NFL players give generously to their communities and exhibit character that the league and fans can be proud of. In a season where there wasn't much for Bengals fans to cheer, the Daltons provided a truly memorable moment.

Thumbs down

A Metro bus travels down Walnut Street in downtown Cincinnati. Metro is non-profit and part of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA). A standard bus fare is $1.75. Metro's fleet includes over 400 buses.(Photo: Liz Dufour/The Enquirer)

Entering 2018, it seemed that fixing the region’s broken transit system would be a priority for city, county and transportation officials. Eleven months later, public transit users are questioning whether the system is worse off. The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority started the year with an overview of its budget challenges, including a projected $44 million deficit in 2019 if a transit levy wasn’t approved by voters. But a series of flubs by the transportation agency – such as an internal audit finding $8 million sitting in the bank and the SORTA board being unable to reach consensus on the size of a levy – doomed the tax proposal, which never made it to the ballot. Then earlier this month, SORTA CEO Dwight Ferrell resigned. Add to that the ongoing calamities and low ridership that has dogged the Cincinnati Bell Connector seemingly from its inception. The streetcar was shut down due to sub-zero temperatures, mold and a litany of mechanical issues. Even a fender-bender with Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune’s car made headlines. City of Cincinnati officials couldn’t even catch a break with a downtown traffic study. After waiting two years for the results of the study, City Council members expressed disappointment with the poorly quality of the presentation of the draft report by the consultant. One of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal transportation picture this year seemed to be WOW airlines, a low-cost, no-frills airline that was offering international flights out of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Regional Airport. However, the airline flew off as quickly as it landed at CVG, lasting just six months after launching at the airport in May. All in all, it was a bumpy ride for regional transportation officials this year. Here’s hoping for a little less turbulence in 2019.

Shopping and dining in Downtown Cincinnati took a hit in 2018, as the city saw an exodus of several longtime retailers and eateries. Macy’s announced in January that it would be closing its Fountain Square department store. A month later, Tiffany & Co. revealed that it would be pulling up stakes after 20 years on Vine Street and moving to Kenwood. Palomino Restaurant and Bar served its last dinner Oct. 21 and Servatii Pastry Shop & Deli closed its Fountain Square location earlier this month to relocate in Northern Kentucky. On the bright side, the development on the empty patch of concrete at Fourth and Race streets is finally moving forward. Proposed is a 14-story mixed-use development that will have retail on the ground floor, a 584-space parking garage and eight stories of apartments. The future development of the Macy’s site will be something to keep an eye on next year. While a resurgence of downtown retail stores like Macy’s seems unlikely, rehabbing and reinventing Cincinnati’s city center remains vitally important to the region.

Dusti Moore, a teacher in the Bath County School system, participates in a protest Friday, March 9, 2018, at the state Capitol. The Kentucky Teachers Association is opposed to Senate Bill 1, which proposes changes for the state-funded pension system for teachers.(Photo: Timothy D. Easley/AP Photo)

Polling shows 53 percent of Kentuckians are growing tired of Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, and there’s no wonder. Bevin’s battle with teachers over pensions and the General Assembly’s failure to fund the retirement system in 2018 are beyond disappointing. Kentucky’s governor and lawmakers are dealing with people’s lives in economically tenuous times. When employees go to work, they believe that when they retire, they will receive all the benefits they’ve been promised. When politicians renege on those promises, that can be traumatic for those employees and their families. Kentucky teachers deserve better than what they’ve gotten from their government so far. The polls will render with final verdict on Bevin and his cohorts – not opinion polls but the voting ones.

HARRY BLACK: Thursday, July 31, 2014: NEWS. Harry Black, Baltimore's finance director, and Cincinnati mayor, John Cranley, laugh during a press conference announcing Black as Cranley's pick to become the new city manager of Cincinnati on Thursday, July 31, in front of City Hall. The Enquirer/ Amanda Rossmann(Photo: Amanda Rossmann/The Enquirer)

This has been far from a banner year for Cincinnati City Council. Many of council’s positive accomplishments have been overshadowed by infighting, controversy and legal battles. Mayor John Cranley’s messy divorce from City Manager Harry Black was a public embarrassment and black eye for Cincinnati. It revealed not only the dysfunction at City Hall between the mayor and manager, but also the acrimony that existed between the mayor and certain members of City Council. The tiff spurred five members of council – P.G. Sittenfeld, Chris Seelbach, Greg Landsman, Tamaya Dennard and Wendell Young – to communicate with each other via group text about the Cranley-Black situation in violation of Ohio’s open meetings law. The council members became known as “The Gang of Five” and the text messaging episode is now the subject of a citizen-driven lawsuit. Two council members – Dennard and Young – stand accused of destroying some of their text messages in violation of a court order. It’s not fair or accurate to say that council didn’t accomplish much in 2018. But if council members want their work to garner more attention in the new year, then they might want to stop creating silly distractions that take away from it.